Islam in Metro Detroit

[1] Early Muslim communities in Detroit "navigated turbulent periods of xenophobia, racism (anti-black and anti-Asian), Orientalist stereotyping, anti-Muslim prejudice, economic depression, and war.

"[2] By the mid-20th century, however, Muslims in Detroit were seen as an upwardly-mobile, modern group on "easy terms with American patriotism.

[1] B. D. Singleton of the California State University, San Bernardino wrote that the older Muslim population were often "marginalized or shut out of" institutions they themselves had created.

Sally Howell, author of Competing for Muslims: New Strategies for Urban Renewal in Detroit, wrote that the request "brought to a head simmering Islamophobic sentiments" in Hamtramck.

[4] Howell added that the controversy, through an "international media storm", gave "a cathartic test of the 'freedoms' we were said to be 'fighting for' in Afghanistan and Iraq" to the remainder of the United States.

[6][7] By 2015 many Muslim women in the Detroit area asked to be able to wear hijab in public places and in any identification photographs.

Several municipalities are having to determine how to deal with producing identification photographs of Muslim women who are under arrest.

[9] On June 13, 2023, the Hamtramck City Council introduced a resolution prohibiting the display of flags representing "any religious, ethnic, racial, political, or sexual orientation group" on city property, which was widely considered a targeted ban on the rainbow flag.

[16] In Hamtramck the Bengali community has established mosques, including Al-Islah Jamee Masjid.

[25] In 2005 Highland Park Schools made plans to attract Arab and Muslim students resident in Detroit and Hamtramck.